Neptune Investment Management will launch the Neptune Global Technology fund on Tuesday (15 December) to take advantage of a “particularly compelling opportunity” in the technology sector.
The fund will be managed by Alastair Unwin, head of technology research. He joined Neptune in May 2014 as manager of the firm’s proprietary Technology Global Sector Model Portfolio, which is used by the firm’s fund managers as a resource when making stock selections. Alex Portz will be assistant manager on the fund.
Mr Unwin commented: “Technological advancement is gathering pace at an incredible rate, with the digital economy set to hit £3.2trn by 2020 according to recent estimates. Having the expertise to differentiate between the winners and losers of this revolution will define investment returns over the next 10 years.”
The vehicle, which will have an annual management charge of 0.75 per cent and both sterling and dollar share classes, will aim for capital growth by investing in a concentrated portfolio of between 40 and 60 holdings. The fund will sit in the Investment Association Technology and Telecommunication sector, using the MSCI World Information Technology index as its benchmark, and will be regionally unconstrained.
Robin Geffen, founder and chief executive of Neptune, added: “We believe the current moment offers a particularly compelling opportunity in the technology sector, which is still largely misunderstood by the wider market.”
He continued: “There is a major risk that the broadening and acceleration of technological change over the next decade will weigh heavily on the returns of the stockmarket as a whole. By investing in those relatively few companies that are benefiting from this generational change in technology we believe the Neptune Global Technology fund will enable clients to diversify away this very major risk to their portfolios’ returns over the next decade.”
